Freshman guard Aidyn Albright made seven three-pointers and finished with a game-high 31 points in Saturday afternoon's 92-90 triumph at Illinois College.
Albright made 12 of 19 field goal attempts overall and shot 7-for-12 from beyond the arc. He also grabbed five rebounds in the contest.
Junior guard Sean Espinosa and senior wing Aram Arslanian were next on the team with 19 points apiece and senior guard Sam Husting also reached double figures with 15. Junior wing Michael Drew Jr. led Lake Forest with 11 rebounds while Husting pulled down a season-high eight and Espinosa had six to go with 11 assists. Espinosa has now scored or assisted on 159 Forester points in the last three games.
The Blueboys outscored their guests 36-33 on three-pointers and 16-11 from the free throw line. Lake Forest, however, made four an extra nine shot attempts created by forcing nine turnovers and committing just one in the entire contest.
Husting scored the game's first seven points but Illinois College accounted for 18 of the next 25 and led by four with 12 minutes to play in the opening period. A 15-6 Forester run put the visitors back on top by five but the home team responded with eight straight points and pulled ahead by five before taking a 44-42 lead into the locker room at halftime.
Neither team led by more than five points during a high-scoring second half that included nine ties and nine lead changes. Albright's seventh three-pointer of the afternoon knotted the score at 85 with 3:11 remaining and he gave the Foresters the lead on a jumper with 1:42 left. The Blueboys regaind the advantage on a three-pointer and rebounded a Lake Forest miss with just over a minute to play. Their attempt nearing the end of the shot clock did not fall, however, and the ball went quickly from Albright to Espinosa and up the right side of the court to Arslanian, who laid it in with 30 seconds on the clock. A steal by Arslanian led to a pair of free throws by Husting and, after the home team closed back to within one, Husting knocked down one of two from the foul line with 11 seconds to play. An three-point attempt to win the game was blocked by Espinosa and the Foresters came away with the win.
Lake Forest is now 12-10 overall this season and 9-6 in Midwest Conference play. Illinois College fell to 5-18 overall and 3-13 in the league.
The Foresters will travel to Ripon College on Tuesday for a 5:30 p.m. tip-off.